Trapped
After all these years, the opportunity suddenly presented itself. I had been given a choice, and since I had been trapped in this dungeon for so long, the ghost has started to get on my nerves.
“JOHN” he screamed at me. “Listen, please, just…”
The rest of his speech was the same as it had been the last years I had been trapped here. I never quite understood why he just could not leave me alone. He was a ghost, so he should just be able to leave this place and never come back, but then again, I have not aged at all in this dungeon, I have not even grown a beard, so there has to be a magic barrier around it.
The dungeon itself was not inhospitable. There was a relatively comfortable bed, the warmth was agreeable and the humidity was good enough. The only light I got came from a small barred window near the ceiling of the room, which was almost twice as high up as I was tall. Unsatisfying, I admit, but the door to the room was a thick metal door without any bars whatsoever, so there was no hope of getting any light from the corridor, other than that from the feeding hatch. Thusly, the only light I got was the light of day. The bricks used to build this dungeon must have been taken from the biggest mountain I have ever seen, since they all measure up to about as high as both my hands put next to each other, and they were all warm to the touch.
I cannot even remember why I was put here in this giant of a cell. I do however not like it, as all days flow together into one large mess, and I cannot help but worry that I would never be able to get out of here. The ghost was with me all the time; he must have been hell bent on following me, since no one can throw a ghost in prison. He told me his name was Jason, which I immediately found to be an unorthodox name for this day and age. He claimed he was here to help me, but I would never believe his lies. He tells me a lot of details from what I assume has been his life, and then tried to tell me it was mine. I told him no.
Every now and then, he has woken me, as he has watched me, all night long. I thought he was trying to possess me in some way. He was a ghost after all.
“Jason, can you please listen?” he asks me in a frumpy manner.
“First of all, stop calling me Jason. “ I answer, bitterly. “Second, what is it now, wraith? Are you going to tell me I have to remember again? Are you going to tell me this can all be over if I just stop this nonsense? You know nothing of me, and I nothing of you!”
“You know everything about me, and therefore you know everything about yourself. I have told you all you need to know, but I know nothing about this John Dunkeep that you speak of. You are NOT John Dunkeep.”
“Then how come you have not called me ‘Jason’ until now?”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you only just started listening when I call you by your real name! You are being eclipsed by this madness!”
The ghost was getting impatient with me. The first times he spoke to me, he called me by his own name, and now he had started with his nonsense again. He must have had a son, or someone close to him, that must be why he was mixing up names. I was John Dunkeep, and I will always be John Dunkeep. He tries to tell me to remember someone called Sarah. I have never known such a person.
“I am getting fed up with your trickeries, ghost. Stop telling me to remember her. I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Your favorite color is blue, you like macaroni and cheese, and your parents are called Bertha and Roy”
I waved this off as nothing, but somewhere inside me something tingled.
It was almost time for food. This dungeon must be close to a castle, for the food I was getting was not entirely bad. The food was given to me through a tiny hatch in the thick metal door. Whenever it opens, I tried my best to get a glimpse of the outside world. The few times I have managed to see anything, I have only managed to see that the corridor outside of the cell is painted in a pale color, not white, but close to it. The floor looked to be the same color and none of it looked like rock.
Ah yes, I have been boring you with old details. The choice. I was given the choice to both stay in the cell, and regain what I had lost, or leave the cell, and embrace the light. This was told to me through the food hatch, by a voice without body.
I chose to leave it all behind, it took a lot of courage to do this, but I could see no other way to get out of this cell.
The ghost was protesting, because he thought this was a bad choice.
“JASON, please listen to me!”
“You did it again, ghost”
“Did what?” he asked me, tired as he was.
“You called me by your name.”
“That’s because I AM YOU, YOU DUMB FUCK!”
I admit that he made me lose my grip, but nevertheless, I was intrigued.
“How can you be me, lest I am not dead?” I asked.
“Stop speaking in that fake posh English. It's lest I am dead, you just used a double negative. This is not a dungeon, and I am not a ghost!” he screamed, and I saw fear in his eyes.
“Why are you scared?”
“I am scared because if you die, I die, and the only reason you are seeing the pale white corridor is because it’s your only memory of what it looks like outside the cell.”
“How do you know this?”
“I know this because, I repeat, I am you. I am your subconscious. You are Jason Dunham, not Dunkeep, and your family all died in a horrible car crash. You developed a deep psychosis, because you were already in a depression. You are incarcerated at Meadow Hills Asylum. Please just take my hand and I’ll show you everything you’ve pushed away.”
He stretched his hand out, and I was fighting the temptation to grab hold of it, but we were interrupted by the door opening with a bang.
“JOHN DUNKEEP?” asked a voice without a body.
“Yes.” I replied.
“ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE STEPS?”
“NO!” the ghost screamed.
“Yes.” I said.
“THEN COME WITH US.” the voice said in a calm manner.
“JASON! LISTEN TO ME!” the ghost screamed at the top of his voice.
As he started to scream I ignored him. I could see the wide open plains in front of me, outside of the door. The ghost shattered before my very eyes, but I did not care. Finally, I would be able to leave. Freedom. There it was right in front of me!
